Sep. 18—LINDEN — Despite a sizeable halftime lead, the Western Boone football team knew it played a sloppy first half of football on Friday night against North Montgomery.
In the second half — they cleaned it up. The Stars played a strong second half and cruised to a 55-6 win over the Chargers.
“It was really sloppy from us, especially in the first half,” Western Boone head coach Justin Pelley said. “We try to do the best we can all the time, and this is a really talented group, but we have to keep working to find out what makes them tick. They responded in the second half, the effort is always there, and we are still working on some things, but we will figure it out.”
Western Boone struck first on a 16-yard touchdown run from Trevor Weakley, but North Montgomery responded with a 70-yard touchdown pass on their first play from scrimmage.
But that was about all the Chargers could get against the Stars’ defense.
After that play, the Chargers managed just more than 50 yards of offense.
The defense also made big plays when they needed to the most.
Leading 21-6 after touchdown runs from Cannon Brunes and Elliott Young, the Stars had a punt blocked that the Chargers recovered at the WeBo 11.
But two plays later Josiah Smith intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the drive, and Western Boone added a second Young touchdown run later in the quarter to make it 28-6.
“Defensively you can’t ask for much more, they have played their hearts out the last two weeks,” Pelley said. “They are playing fast, getting off the ball and they aren’t afraid to make mistakes.”
Western Boone fumbled on its opening drive of the second half, but that was the lone blemish for the Stars.
An interception by Jake Johnson gave the ball right back to WeBo in positive territory, and they scored on a 23-yard run by Casey Baird.
After Dylan Small blocked a punt on the Chargers’ next possession, Young connected with Garrett Morton for a 24-yard score to make it 42-6.
Young finished the game 10 of 17 for 168 yards and a score. He added 38 yards rushing.
“It was good to see the passing game get going, but we have to protect him,” Pelley said. “Elliott can throw it, and Garrett Morton and Blake Miller made some nice catches. We have the guys to do it, we just have to do it.”
Western Boone added touchdown runs in the fourth from Mason Tomes and Mason Amich.
Western Boone hosts Frankfort for Homecoming next Friday.
“We have to clean up our mindset,” Pelley said. “We have to get that enthuasism, intensity, fire-in-your-eye, kind of feeling. We have to find what drives our guys because we want to make sure we set the tone next week.”
Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.